Years Later

when I see his writing on an envelope I think,

Oh yes! That was the man I married. I live

so easily without him now that I forget him

for months at a time. Until perhaps some man says

Let me help you.

And I knock his teeth out.

He mops up the blood, bewildered, and I apologise:

I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t hear you for the echoes.

Let me help you. Let me do that for you.

You can trust me.

-- Dorothy Nimmo, from The Children’s Game